The PHILCO Phorum
Philco 49-1040 - Printable Version

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Philco 49-1040 - Bob Andersen - 02-23-2025

I thought I had an arrangement to restore this set for a customer but his wife said heck no.  Instead, he gave it to me.
Some say it's goofy looking, but it's one of my favorite early designs and I'll so my best to bring it back to life.

It's all there including the back.  CRT tests good Icon_smile

I love how primitive it looks. Note the tuner tubes are mounted under the chassis.

It also lacks fine tuning. I guess the thinking at the time was that it wasn't needed.

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RE: Philco 49-1040 - radiorich - 02-24-2025

Hello Bob,
You are like the home for lost tv's like how people bring pets home !
Sincerely Richard

RE: Philco 49-1040 - Arran - 02-24-2025

Bob;
Looks like another "Bumble Bee" special, like my Brand Z T.O radios. Is that section they took out of one side of the chassis to make space for the speaker or was that used is some other model that needed it for clearing the picture tube?
Regards
Arran

RE: Philco 49-1040 - Bob Andersen - 02-24-2025

Oh yes, many bumblebees and loktal tubes.

The cutout is for the speaker.  Here's a photo from a different set.

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RE: Philco 49-1040 - radiorich - 02-24-2025

Hello bob,
that underside looks like it is all original !

Sincerely Richard

RE: Philco 49-1040 - Bob Andersen - 02-24-2025

Yes, and it's surprisingly common for early TVs to be mostly or all original. My thinking is that they were retired early as lower cost sets with much bigger screens hit the market.

RE: Philco 49-1040 - MrFixr55 - 02-27-2025

+1 Bob. Yeah, they bought it in 1949 or so, but by 1960, with the CRT starting to dim and after having the set repaired at least 2X, they figured that for about 1.5 to 2X the cost of a repair, they could get a 23" B/W job with a fancy cabinet.

Grandma bought a Zenith portable in 1964 when her DuMont RA113 CRT got dim and the Tech told her that it would be cheaper to buy a new TV. I now have both and may fix before I grow dim.

RE: Philco 49-1040 - TV MAN - 03-01-2025

Really cool old TV Mr. Anderson! Just being complete, clean and unmolested means a lot! I love how the tuner is flipped over so that all the dust can get on the contacts and cause it to be scratchy. I look forward to a video on this! Thanks for sharing!

RE: Philco 49-1040 - Bob Andersen - 03-04-2025

Here's another example of this chassis. Sure seems like a cover over the tuner would have been wise.
[Image: https://live.staticflickr.com/3528/3885156047_26d9df630a_c.jpg]

RE: Philco 49-1040 - MuzzcoVW - 03-17-2025

No fine tuning! That's a new one on me, never seen that before

RE: Philco 49-1040 - Bob Andersen - 03-18-2025

Early Motorola TVs also didn't have fine tuning and only 8 channel positions. Your local dealer would set it up for you.

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